Hitchens: If Obama’s race speech was so memorable, try quoting one line from it

posted at 3:35 pm on July 25, 2008 by Allahpundit

As immortalized by C-SPAN, here’s the incident I had in mind yesterday in writing about the Berlin speech. Click the image and scroll down to chapter 17 to watch. In fairness to the left, no one except the most embarrassing, slackjawed Obama disciples went as far as to compare the speech to the Gettysburg Address. And of course it’s not the case that Lincoln’s speech was universally recognized as a masterpiece immediately afterwards. But it’s surely true that Barry O aspires to Lincolnesque heights of oratory, in which case I humbly offer two bits of advice. One: When you’re hunting for a killer line, try to aim higher than something Stuart Smalley might plausibly say to himself while staring into a mirror. And two: Try to avoid sentiments you might be forced to retract six weeks later.

Rush today replayed a sound montage of Obama, that he played a couple of days ago as well, collating a great deal of “um”s and “er”s and hesitations, that made Dubya sound like an advanced speech professor. Does anyone know where I can get that sound bite? It’s hilarious.

I honestly don’t think Obama is that great of an orator. I judge high school speech and have seen dozens of more effective speakers.

The difference is that Obama is in the position to promise gifts of everything to everyone, is the benefactor of white guilt and America guilt, and is the current liberal Democrat candidate, which = media darling.

I know several who could talk him under the table if they were in his shoes.

He is certainly more engaging than many politicians, but that is not saying very much.

There are an infinite number of differences between barack obama and Abraham Lincoln; Lincoln was obviously compassionate but he was also a very humble man. After he gave the Gettysburg Address he sat down and told his friend, basically, that the speech was no good. Can you see obama every saying something like that? Lincoln is as close as any of our leaders will ever come to messiah-hood. obama wishes he had what it takes. This guy will be a gnat in American History. A gnat. Small, insignificant and annoying as fuck.

most likely you can get it if you are a member of rush 24/7…you can listen to all the old Paul shanklin parodies…..like ‘livin in an ALGORE paradise’ and my favorite when Larry king interviews Carville and ken starr:

…ken starr is a space alien, going around giving cigarettes to your children, while trying to bring down the most moral man in america….bill clinton… LK: Why would you try to kill children ken???

Obama may be the biggest marketing scam in political history. This guy is so shallow that it is embarrassing. He was more hesitant than other leading democratic liberals in trashing our country when they have made speeches abroad. I guess when you see the governments there now being more conservative than they have been, it makes sense. Libs don’t like to feel “uncomfortable” when they lie.

The American people are smart. You can get away with this kind of tripe once or twice, but Obama is such an empty suit that all he’s able to do is put on a highly polished, slick, but empty “hope and change” message. After the 50th “rally” with screaming fans, people are going to catch on, and he’s going to get written off. Our job is to keep pushing on Obama HARD so that hopefully we can break through the media logjam and start generating a narrative on him as an empty suit.

Although it is odd to realize that while we may know more about candidates/politicans today because of Youtube et cetera, that not one American in a thousand – ten thousand – can tell you what was in the latest billion dollar bailout bill for the mortagage industry.

At the height of the Cold War, my father decided, like so many others in the forgotten corners of the world, that his yearning — his dream — required the freedom and opportunity promised by the West. And so he wrote letter after letter to universities all across America until somebody, somewhere answered his prayer for a better life.

And anyway, isn’t that a point against Obama? It took years for the Gettysburg Address to be recognized as a masterful piece of oration, but Obama’s going to show up to talk about an ignoble subject (as opposed to Lincoln’s noble) and dishonor his own family, and we’re supposed to buy that he’s magnificent?

Hitchens: If Obama’s race speech was so memorable, try quoting one line from it

I can nomore disown him than i can down own my racist white grandmother.. a women that loves me to death but said things that makes me cringe..

(What did she say? in his book he wrote that she was scared of pretty much aggressive pan handlers and beggars on the street asking her for money.. and thought that they might mug her and hit her over and head and rob her.. LOTS OF PEOPLE ARE AFRAID OF THAT.. they have made laws against such things.. )

Yeah, IIRC, Barack got the racial context from Grandpa and the only reason it came to Barack’s attention at all was because of an argument about Grandpa’s refusal to drive Grandma to work to avoid the panhandlers.

From what I recall of that passage in his book, Obama’s granny was afraid of one black panhandler — and for good reason. She was waiting at the bus stop when the black man approached her and asked for money. She gave him some, but he continued acting aggressively towards her and she believed that he may have been about to strike her. She was a middle-aged woman, alone at a bus stop with a strange black man who was harrassing her. What woman in her right mind would not have been afraid in those circumstances?

For Obama to criticize his grandmother for that incident seemed particularly petty to me. It’s even more disgusting that he would use such an incident as an example of white “racism.” His grandmother expressed fear of the man because of his aggressive behavior towards her, not because of his skin color.

I wished we lived during a time when oratory still meant something. No speeches are memorable anymore save for the last couple of eulogies I’ve heard.

This guy will be a gnat in American History. A gnat. Small, insignificant and annoying as fuck.

Annoying, yes. Insignificant, no. Let’s at least be honest. Shees.

His campaign has raised more money than any other in our short history. He is still the first viable AA candidate. Those factors alone negate your assertion.

Furthermore, if he becomes President, he will have reached the apex of significance. Kinda sucks, but it could happen (especially with the pantsload of candidates Repubs started out with).

To me, you sound just like those blacks who try discount Sec. Rice and Justice Thomas as “insignificant.” Ebony Magazine went so far as to leave them off the list of the 100 most influential African-Americans one year.

I wished we lived during a time when oratory still meant something. No speeches are memorable anymore save for the last couple of eulogies I’ve heard.
The Race Card on July 25, 2008 at 6:21 PM

Unfortunately, not many speeches, even the Gettysburg address, are as memorable upon delivery as they are historically. The converse is also true, as Obama proved with his “race speech,” which was hailed by the media as a speech for the centuries, but wound up in the trash heap with, as Hitch says, no one able to quote a single line.

Hitch had an even better line further on in the video, re the potential crash of politicians reaching rock star status, to the effect that what you really need in a politician is someone “steady,” with basic promises — but when you get “someone who promises a great deal, in return you might get something quite sinister.”

of course it’s not the case that Lincoln’s speech was universally recognized as a masterpiece immediately afterwards.

True. However, note that Wiki doesn’t give a footnote to the Chicago Times’ pan of the speech. That’s because the Times was cited by Carl Sandburg, but no one else has been able to find the article in the Times archives.